MSN Gathers Advertising and Marketing Leaders

HostReview.com
Wednesday, March 16, 2005; 02:29 PM

Today Steve Ballmer, chief executive officer of Microsoft Corp. (www.microsoft.com), will deliver the keynote address at the sixth annual MSN® Strategic Account Summit, a leading industry forum held on Microsoft's main campus in Redmond, where many of the industry's most innovative thought leaders will meet to discuss what will shape the advertising industry today and in the future.

Based on feedback from marketers and customers, MSN developed a two-day agenda within the theme of "Mastering the Medium," armed to help the more than 500 attendees identify opportunities to most effectively reach their audiences.

Attendees also will gain insights into MSN's vision and strategy and will have the opportunity to hear and interact with industry-leading speakers in categories such as branding, direct-response campaigns and privacy.

Examples of innovative work, best results, trends and accomplishments that reach beyond the boundaries of today's advertising will be highlighted at the summit to encourage the industry to continue to move forward on the road to mastery.

Speakers and panelists at the sixth annual summit include the following:
• Barry Diller, chairman and CEO of IAC/InterActiveCorp.
• Mark Burnett, creator and executive producer of reality television programs such as "Survivor" and "The Apprentice"
• Dr. Eric Schmidt, CEO and chairman of the executive committee of Google Inc.
• Ted Meisel, president of Yahoo! Search Marketing and senior vice president of Yahoo! Inc.
• Ann Fudge, chairman and CEO of Young & Rubicam Brands

"Microsoft's Strategic Account Summit is one of the most important industry events of the year for advertisers, publishers and creative agencies," Ballmer said. "We are proud to host many of the top thought leaders from the advertising and media community, and join them in addressing how to interact and communicate with consumers in new and meaningful ways online."

At the summit MSN also will unveil Microsoft's next-generation online advertising platform, MSN adCenter, built on Microsoft® technology that will help advertisers get higher returns by understanding and connecting to their desired audience throughout the MSN network.

Yusuf Mehdi, corporate vice president of the MSN Information Services & Merchant Platform division, will demonstrate the first component of MSN adCenter, a new prototype of an MSN paid-search solution for which a pilot program will begin within the next six months in Singapore and France to gather customer feedback.

Within the MSN adCenter platform, the new MSN paid-search solution will be tightly integrated with other future capabilities to give advertisers a one-stop shop from which to plan, execute and adjust their online campaigns.

The new MSN paid-search solution will provide keyword buyers with in-depth audience intelligence including geographic location, gender, age group, lifestyle segment and time of day.

During his presentation at the summit, Blake Irving, corporate vice president of the MSN Communication Services and Member Platform Group at Microsoft, will announce the evolution of the MSN Custom Solutions Team to take on an expanded charter in the United States as the new MSN Branded Entertainment and Experiences Team.

The new MSN Branded Entertainment and Experiences Team will be a resource for brand marketers to reach the massive MSN consumer audience in new ways online via experiential marketing and entertainment that taps into consumer passions for sports, music, movies, video, instant messaging and more online experiences on MSN.

The team has a strong history of working with leading brands, and in the past three years has worked with more than 40 of the top consumer brands that have run engaging and creative branded entertainment experiences on MSN.

"MSN's ability to create customized and innovative programs has allowed us to deliver highly impactful programs that increase consumer involvement with the brands we serve," said Sarah Fay, president of Isobar US (Carat Interactive, Freestyle, iProspect). "This group consistently forges new territory for our clients and the industry. We consider MSN a gold standard partner in the category of branded entertainment."

MSN attracts more than 380 million unique users worldwide per month. With localized versions available globally in 40 markets and 20 languages, MSN is a world leader in delivering Web services to consumers and online advertising opportunities to businesses worldwide.